Educating patients to prevent diabetic foot ulceration

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Foot ulcers are a common and serious complication of diabetes.This summary is based on a Cochrane systematic review containing 11 randomised controlled trials with a total of 2,686 participants aged over 18 years with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

The review found that there is currently no research to support the use of education alone to prevent foot ulceration and amputations. However, because diabetes has enormous and growing effects on individuals, increasing patient awareness of the implications of not caring for their feet must be part of educational packages and within all nurses’ health promotion role.